Liviu Librescu

The revelation that Dr. Liviu Librescu blocked the door of his
classroom in Norris Hall on the morning of April 16 so that his students
could escape through the windows came as no surprise to his family,
friends, and colleagues. The renowned aeronautical engineering educator
and researcher had demonstrated profound courage throughout the 76 years
of his life.

As a child in Romania during World War II, Liviu was confined to a
Jewish ghetto, while his father was sent to a forced labor camp. After
surviving the Holocaust, Liviu moved forward with stalwart determination
to become an engineer.

During the rise of the Communist Party in Romania in the 1960s, Liviu
earned his undergraduate aeronautical engineering degree from the
Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest and completed his Ph.D. at the
Institute of Fluid Mechanics, Academy of Science of Romania. He achieved
academic prominence, but in order to have his papers on aerodynamics
published anywhere except at the academy during Communist rule, he had
to work in secrecy and—at great risk—smuggle papers to
publishers in other countries.

Dr. Librescu and his wife wanted to leave Romania for Israel, but
obtaining the requisite visas was a difficult and lengthy process. After
three years—and with the help of the government of
Israel—the family finally was allowed to immigrate in 1978.

After serving as a professor for seven years at Tel-Aviv University,
Dr. Librescu accepted a one-year position as visiting professor in the
Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM). The
family decided to settle in Blacksburg in 1985, and Liviu became one of
Virginia Tech’s most respected educators and researchers in the
field of aeronautical engineering.

The roster of his publications, awards, and honors is remarkably long
and international in scope. Among recent honors were his selection as a
member of the Board of Experts of the Italian Ministry of Education,
University and Scientific Research, and his election as the Foreign
Fellow of the Academy of Engineering of Armenia.

“Professor Librescu died as he lived, devoted to his students
and to his profession,” said Dr. Ishwar Puri, head of the ESM
department at Virginia Tech. “He loved his position as a
professor. A prolific researcher and wonderful teacher, he devoted
himself to the profession, solely for the love of it.”

“It is a question of pleasures,” Dr. Librescu said in
2005, when asked why he continued to work so hard. “It is not a
question of organizations or calculations. If I had the pleasure to do
this, then I will put time aside to do this. It is personal freedom. If
you are limited, then you miss the freedom. And I—I would like to
be fluid. I would like to be free as a bird and fly
everywhere.”

Dr. Librescu is survived by his wife, Marlena, and his sons, Joseph
and Arieh, who reside in Israel. During his funeral in Israel, Marlena
was presented with the Grand Cross of Romania, the nation’s
highest civilian honor, in honor of her husband’s
“scientific achievements and heroism.”